This season, the WTA and ATP authorities have to deal with frequent complaints from famous players. For example, Iga Swiatek complained about the way the tournament calendar and match schedules were planned. Now Ons Jabeur and Novak Djokovic join the complaints against the tennis authorities. What are they complaining about?
Ons Jabeur complained in one of her recent interviews about the poor treatment of inferior players by the world tennis authorities. The Tunisian said that it was only after reaching the top ten that she began to be listened to.
In Ons Jabeur’s opinion, players who do not occupy top positions in the rankings do not enjoy much sympathy from the WTA authorities.
-Now they would care about my words. It’s not good to only listen to the best players, but for me, I feel like I have to do something about it. I have to speak up on behalf of every competitive tennis player about what is wrong and what can be better – Jabeur said.
In turn, Novak Djokovic raised the issue of low earnings of players ranked outside the top “400”. Novak Djokovic, in a recent interview for ESPN, united with tennis players outside the top “400”, who often have problems raising funds to be able to travel to tournaments scattered around the world. The tennis player’ statement is the result of the last interview of 26-year-old Indian Sumit Nagal. The 159th player in the ATP ranking admitted that he was unable to save even a cent during the season.
— When I look at my bank account, it’s the same as it was at the beginning of the year. I have 900 euros. A few people helped me a little, I have a monthly salary from an Indian oil company, but I don’t have any big sponsors, the Asian tennis player said in an interview with PTI.
The issue of financial rewards has been troubling experts for a long time. There are more and more voices saying that women should receive the same bonuses as men.
– I was in their shoes and I understand the struggle. I understand the difficulties of covering travel costs if you don’t have the support of a strong federation, which 90 percent or more of the players around the world don’t have, and also the lack of budget to pay coaches and physiotherapists. Coming from Serbia, I had nothing like that. Now I have influence, I have power and I want to fight for better conditions. We talk so much about how much money US Open winners make, but we don’t talk about how many professional players make a living from tennis. In a very global sport, that’s a maximum of 400 players, and it’s one of the most watched sports in the world. That’s poor. This is a failure of our sport – said Novak Djokovic, the leader of the ATP ranking, clearly concerned.
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